Salon: The prosecutor purge: A case study in damage control

[maddezmom]

The prosecutor purge: A case study in damage control
The prosecutor-purge documents the Justice Department turned over to the House Judiciary Committee Monday night read like a case study in heavy-handed damage control. It hasn't worked so well so far, but it's not for a lack of trying:

On Jan. 30, 2007, Kyle Sampson, chief of staff for Alberto Gonzales, forwards to several other top Justice Department officials a draft of a letter to Sen. Mark Pryor regarding the appointment of Friend of Rove Tim Griffin as the interim replacement for ousted Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins. "The attached letter incorporates DOJ edits and WH edits (and has been 'cleared' by WH)," Sampson writes. "I think we need to get it up today, well in advance of hearing next week -- if (God forbid) Pryor shows up at the hearing as a witness and alleges that he wasn't consulted, we discriminated against the FAUSA, we have a conspiracy to keep Tim in office, etc., etc., then we'll want to have this letter to wave around."

On Feb. 1, 2007, Sampson is asked whether he thinks Cummins should accept an invitation to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sampson says no, saying he doesn't know how Cummins could answer questions about the circumstances surrounding his firing or his contacts with Griffin.

On Feb. 7, 2007, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse says in an e-mail message to Sampson and Justice Department public affairs chief Tasia Scolinos that Gonzlaes is "extremely upset" with the newspaper stories on McNulty's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and believes that "some of statements were inaccurate." Roehrkasse asks Sampson to call him and tells Scolinos that Gonzales wants to know "what we can do from a comms perspective. I suggested a clearly worded op-ed and reaching out to ed boards who will write in the coming days. I think from a straight news perspective, we just want the stories to die."

On Feb. 9, 2007, ousted U.S. Attorney Margaret Chiara asks McNulty whether he could help get her a job at the Justice Department's National Advocacy Center in South Carolina. McNulty forwards the request to his chief of staff, Mike Elston, asking "Can we make this happen?" Elston forwards McNulty's message to Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liason with the note: "This idea may help us avoid linking to the others. What do you think?"

more:http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/03/20/damage/index.html